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Riots
In the period of 1955 – 1977 many riots were setting off in The United States Of America. The civil rights and black power movement began in 1955. The movement in 1955 started when a young colored lady named Rosa Parks, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat for a white person. In the following years many local riots took place. The African-American people had enough and began to fight back. The riots were often started by a single event where a colored person was executed or arrested in an unacceptable way. Why did the African American begin to go the violent way, when Martin Luther King was a peaceful protester, and a big role model? The Harlem riots The first riot in Harlem, New York started at 2:30 in the afternoon on March 19, 1935. A 16-year old black Puerto Rican boy named Lino Rivera was shoplifting a 10 cent knife. The owner noticed it and called the police. A woman saw the policeman take Rivera down to the basement, and the rumor spread. A mob of people began to envelop the store. People thought Rivera was killed, because someone saw a car that was meant to pick the body up, they thought. The mob increased and people were being violent and destroyed stores. At 5:30 in the evening the store where Rivera was shoplifting was closed, and the mob was now a riot. Over 600 windows was smashed, three African-Americans were killed, sixty injured and seventy five people were arrested by the police. The riot ended the day after when New York Governor Herbert Lehman announced all was under control. The 'second' riot in Harlem. By the 1940s 300.000 blacks lived in Harlem. The shop owners in Harlem didn’t allow blacks to work in the shops. The unemployment was high in Harlem; therefore the living conditions were bad. On the 1st of august 1943 an African- American woman named Evelyn Seely was arrested at the Braddock Hotel, for making too much noise. One of the police officers struck Evelyn Seely, and a black soldier named Robert Brady stood in for her. Brady attacked the policeman; the policeman shot Robert Brady in the shoulder. After a few hours people knew about the event and people began to crowd the streets. The riots began; the idea behind this riot was also the mistreatment of black people who served in the army. In the 1940’s and following years the black were treated bad in the army. The riot lasted for 2 days and 6 people were killed during the event. Almost 200 people were injured and more than 550 people were arrested. The third Harlem riot '''was the riot that got the long hot summers started. In 1964 a black student, named James Powell got shot by a white police officer on the 16 of July. James Powell was playing with his friends, but then the superintendent took a hose and sprayed water on them. Powell got mad and began to chase the superintendent. Lt. Gilligan who was an off-duty police officer saw the incident, and took his gun out and fired 2 shots at Powell. The word got out. CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) had been planning a protest on the 18 of July, but they dedicated it to Powell. 4000 people were marching the streets of Harlem on their way to Brooklyn. The crowd was yelling “Burn baby burn” and placed posters on electric poles “Wanted for murder: Gilligan the cop.” Two days later people were marching in front of a police station in Harlem, the police used force against the demonstrators, and a riot began. The riot was spreading, and it took 6000 police officers to quiet things down. One person died, 500 was injured, approximately 465 people arrested and 1 million dollars in damages. The following years many riots occurred, also called the hot summers. They were often based on desperation, Because of the many deaths. The people from Harlem lived in a very bad neighborhood, they couldn’t get employed. The way Martin Luther King was handling the race situation was very peaceful, but his intention was based on the overall problem racism. The riots were based on an event, the problem may have been a local problem, but it developed to a global thing. '''Conclusion My conclusion on the violent riots would be that the rioters in Harlem were desperate, and didn’t know how else to react. All three riots were based on a single attack from police officers. It was their revenge for being treated badly. They wanted to have the same rights as the white people, and the riots were a call, but it only made it worse. Reference list 1 http://www.papermasters.com/long-hot-summers-1960.html http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp 2 Alain Locke, “Harlem: Dark Weather-Vane,” Survey Graphic Special Issue (1936); Allen D. Grimshaw, ed., Racial Violence in the United States (Chicago: Aldine Publishing, 1969); Cheryl Lynn Greenberg, Or Does It Explode (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991): TIME Magazine, “Mischief Out of Misery,” 3 http://www.uncoveringyonkers.com/harlem-race-riot-1943.html http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20584 4 Lewis, Hylan, 1990 http://www.highbeam.com/topics/race-riots-harlem-1964-t10640 5 Lewis, Hylan, 1990 http://www.highbeam.com/topics/race-riots-harlem-1964-t10640